Toddler Trays

Many of you have asked what I do with my littles while I'm homeschooling.......that my friends is a very loaded question!  Somedays I'd like to tie them to their bed posts but heavens - I would NEVER do that :)  Somedays their baths go extra long....somedays they may spend a few minutes longer in the snow banks.....somedays the TV or Ipad takes over......but when I'm particularly ambitious - I like to break out the:

TODDLER TRAYS

I cannot remember where I got this idea initially but it's basically following the premise that toddlers like to have a space to call their own.  I bought four big plastic trays from lakeshorelearning.com (but you could use a cookie sheet as well) and set to work collecting random things for the trays.  

Think: pouring, measuring, cutting, gluing, stacking, counting, sorting, sifting, beading, patterning, fine motor, etc.

I thought I'd search my pics for the year and pull out a few examples:

Beading on a pipecleaner - great for little hands as the pipecleaner stays stiff!  Could work on patterning here as well.

sorting big/little ladybugs and green leaves

Tutti Frutti!  Scooping pom poms with a melon scoop!

sorting monkeys by color - or in Jonah's case - filling/dumping = making a mess!

cutting and gluing (here we were making teeth for a mouth!)

Tutti Frutti is such a highlight that all three of them like to get it out and "serve" our guests!

Also sorting by color - not really sure what these trays are for but found them next to the icecube trays at the dollar store.  We are sorting colored crafting sticks.

Sorting also works great in muffin tins.  These foam cubes I found at the dollar store as well.

love these math cubes - they work great for patterning as well - or making a mess :)

Fine Motor - hanging the clothes!

more cutting practice with paint chips - cutting apart on the white lines dividing each color.  Then I mix them all up and she sorts them into containers by color.  Great practice working on the shades of various colors.

Saved my milk jugs and then put a foam sticker on top.  Ella likes to put them in order as she sings the alphabet song.  For Jonah I put them into an old wipes container and he likes to push the button and open the lid and put them in and dump them out.

Mr Potato Head is also great fine motor and working on body parts.

Pounding golf tees with a plastic hammer into a foam block and then balancing marbles on top of the tees.

 A rice bucket with plastic animals and gems hidden inside.  Found this little blue garbage can and Jonah enjoys pushing the pedal to open the lid and then pick out animals/gems from the rice and then put them into the garbage.  Ella has learned now how to use the tongs to pull out items from the rice and release them into the garbage.

     

They also enjoy the Lite Brite, Pop Beads, the scale with weights, water play, bead/rock bin, Magnetic dolls, blocks, Peg boards, flannel boards.

I absolutely love Toddlers but in the midst of teaching school I have found them to be frustrating....to be truly honest.  

But these trays have been so so helpful for me.  The kids love them and it has helped keep them entertained while I work with Abbigail.

There are so so many ideas out there and I just keep a big filing drawer full of random things I find to include on the trays.  It helps when you are a pack rat like me cause supplies are always ample :)

I'd love to hear your ideas for Toddlers!